Can Pat McAfee help Disney prevail over YouTube TV in TV’s never-ending carriage wars?
Disney’s ESPN said it would make one of its most popular sports telecasts, “College GameDay,” widely available via the X social-media platform as the entertainment conglomerate grapples with a blackout of its networks on YouTube TV, one of a growing number of carriage battles traditional entertainment companies are having with the increasingly popular content distributor.
“We understand the frustration that some fans are feeling about missing out, so we are making this gesture with them in mind,” Disney said in a statement. ESPN has broadcast “College GameDay” on Saturday mornings during the football season since 1987.
“College GameDay” is one of ESPN’s veteran hits, a show that has long enjoyed advertising support from The Home Depot and that has been turbo-charged in recent years by the addition of maverick sports host Pat McAfee. Indeed, on X, the broadcast will appear via McAfee’s feed. Fans may also find the telecast at ESPN’s mobile app. In both cases, fans can watch the show without having to rely on a subscription to a cable or satellite company, or other means of video distribution, to gain access.
ESPN said on Tuesday that last week’s broadcast generated 2.5 million viewers between 9 a.m. and noon, and 3.2 million viewers in its final hour after 12 p.m. The broadcast, ESPN said, was its most-watched ninth-week broadcast ever.
Disney may have hopes of spurring sports fans who are YouTube TV subscribers to find their match-ups in other fashion. ESPN earlier this year launched a new streaming service that makes all the content from its portfolio of channels available to people who don’t subscribe in traditional fashion — a reversal after years of trying to get consumers to keep old-school ESPN. Disney also makes content from other networks available on Disney+ and Hulu by various methods.
The economics of sport are no game to companies like Disney. The company and many of its rivals — including NBCUniversal, Amazon Prime Video, Fox, Paramount GLobal and Netflix — are investing increasing amount of money to offer sports more widely and in more prominent fashion. The match-ups represent the one programming format that continues to attract the large, live audiences that advertiser crave in an era when more consumers are gravitating to streaming their video favorites at moments of their own choosing.
YouTube TV removed Disney’s networks late on October 30, after the two sides could not come to terms on a renewal that would keep ABC, ESPN and other Disney properties on the internet TV service. The main sticking point is price — Disney is asking for rate hikes that Google isn’t willing to agree to. At the same time, Google has been trying to push TV companies to accept new tiers of programming that could result in some subscribers opting to drop receiving certain networks.
YouTube TV has said that if Disney’s channels remain unavailable for “an extended period of time,” it will offer subscribers a one-time $20 credit. YouTube TV’s base subscription plan costs $82.99 per month.
Disney is the latest in a series of media companies to square off with Google over YouTube TV in recent months. Others that have fought with the company include Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal. Each of those reached a new deal without a blackout albeit some did so with some frenzied moments as deadlines loomed. YouTube TV dropped Univision and other TelevisaUnivision-owned networks at the end of September after the two sides could not reach a new agreement — and those outlets remain sidelined from the Google service.
–Todd Spangler contributed to this story
More to come….
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